First, because this topic has the potential to develop into a heated debate, I contacted Niantic Support via email beforehand to confirm whether it was appropriate to create this topic. I also received assurance from Niantic Support that they would investigate the individuals mentioned in this topic. Thank you for your cooperation
And since there are several issues with discussing this topic in the Japanese community, I created this thread.
Currently, in the Japanese Wayfarer community, there is frequent discussion about explorers who engage in activities aimed at “reporting and getting accounts suspended.”
These explorers are immediately fabricating any flaws in the review process, claiming intentional fraud and malicious rule violations, and are trying to demand harsh penalties from Niantic. On Japanese social media, they are spreading other applicants’ recommendation images without permission, enjoying the process of tormenting them. Meanwhile, in this Niantic Wayfarer Community, they are pretending to be good people while spouting their own rules
How can we stop this explorer’s reckless behavior?
We would appreciate it if you could provide your opinions and any evidence you may have for our investigation.
If someone’s done nothing wrong, getting reported won’t have any effect, as reports are reviewed by staff, who can see someone’s full wayfarer history. The reporter on the other hand might get into trouble for making multiple fake reports.
I am sure staff can open a DM to discuss if required. If anyone has been warned or suspended and they feel it was not warranted, they should come here and share what happened, and staff can often send them a DM with more information, and even sometimes overturn if there’s additional evidence that the person did nothing wrong.
People can say a lot of things on social media, it can be extremely toxic. I believe you can flag posts as inappropriate on the platforms, and you can also unfollow toxic people and see less of that kind of content. That would be my approach
I don’t see why this topic should become heated. If everyone remains factual and respectful and it remains depersonalised ( nit naming individuals) then a good discussion can take place
If players feel that they are being harassed or bullied then they should report it in game. If this is happening in wayfarer then it is clear you should use the form here
There is scope to write a timeline of incidents and provide evidence to demonstrate and prove your complaint.
The team will then investigate and if proven action will be taken.
For those that have sanctions made that they feel are wrong they can appeal that sanction and come to this forum if they want to discuss further and provide evidence
Those are the processes and the team takes these seriously and quite rightly requires evidence before action.
So to answer following the agreed process is the correct methodology to stop malicious behaviour.
I am very puzzled by the last sentence but also aware that perhaps something hasn’t quite been translated correctly especially the “our investigation” part.
Reading that makes it sound like an investigation / action outside of wayfarer team. If that is not correct please do explain further.
Wayfinders should use the official forms and processes and not attempt to “witch hunt” on this forum, which is what this sounds like.
Please provide evidence through the forms for the team to gather and investigate.
The above topic was previously created by a Japanese explorer. It described how his account was suspended for 30 days after he submitted a recommendation letter with inaccurate location information, and how the user then mocked the app by posting images of it on social media. The problem didn’t end there; this social media user shamelessly commented on the topic and lectured its creator
Following the incident, the SNS user reportedly received a warning from Niantic. Unauthorized use of personal images was indeed a problem
Subsequently, this social media user repeatedly reposted images of the Japanese explorers without permission, continuing to mock them
****Mod edit
The identified evidence has already been submitted to Niantic by volunteers, so I will omit it here, but it seems malicious that someone who should be promoting Niantic Wayfarer is secretly trying to cause its decline
He has stated that he uses multiple different accounts on social media, has made statements implying he spoofed his location while playing games, and has intentionally reported others to get them suspended for 30 days
These facts could easily be verified by Niantic staff, but if they are true, the Japanese community forums are full of false information, making it unsettling and something to hesitate about using
To alleviate these concerns, I want to discuss this here and urge the organizers of this Japanese community forum to stop the misconduct
However, the suspect would normally respond immediately to such a topic, yet a considerable amount of time has passed without any reply. My suspicions are only growing stronger
A social media user mentioned in a thread recently declared, “I will treat any report with even the slightest inaccuracy in the location as malicious, report it, and have the account suspended.”
****mod edit link removed
I have a question. One of the points being discussed in this thread is whether the person boasting about cheating on Twitter and the person pretending to be a good person in this Niantic Wayfarer community are the same person. Would it be illegal to post a link related to this? I previously saw a comment that said “reporting is pointless because community members get preferential treatment,” but will the same thing happen this time? If so, I think that’s far from neutral.
I’m skeptical, but since Elijastry seems knowledgeable about this matter, I would appreciate it if you could explain it in detail.
It may be best to have a direct conversation with a staffmember. They usually take abuse very serious, but accusations like this can also be sensitive, if not true.
Yes, we have already exchanged emails. My personal report lacked sufficient evidence. However, as mentioned above, I received a reply stating, “If you would like to discuss this, please report it to the community section,” and “Please contact us with a link to the community forum where you shared the evidence. We will investigate further.” That is why I would like to discuss this here and gather evidence of the misconduct.
You can report bad behavior to help chat at https://wayfarer.nianticlabs.com/new/help where there is an option under the “Report Wayfarer Abuse” section, if you haven’t tried there yet. Help chat does not generate emails, so I don’t believe this is how you reported.
It is possible for the person in question to prove their identity based on their forum posts, and I have also been able to identify who they are, but I believe this is not something that should be done here, at least.
The forum is not a place to publicly shame individuals.
I hope that the culture of public shaming on Japanese social media will be properly discussed and addressed.
